Not As Planned
by AMessofaDreamerx
Summary: Having a serial killer murder your best friend while you're in high school really changes your plans for life and then even more so when he's never caught. 12 years later, I, Dr. Charlotte Hart, was just approved to join Quantico's BAU program with the FBI with plans to one day catch this unsub, but with a team that borderlines family, my plans don't go exactly as I'd re-imagined.


**AN**: hey y'all, so I started Criminal Minds a couple weeks ago and I'm like halfway through season four. I began plotting this story in the second season when Elle left and normally I wait till I've watched it all to actually write anything, but… I've got quite the ways to go and I don't want to wait that long haha so I'm just going to take it episode by episode, develop the story past what I've got as I watch. It'll have canon cases, but more so new ones to naturally fit Charlie into the story. Hope you enjoy!

_This begins in season two, episode seven "North Mammon"_

**Chapter One: Three Truths**

There was a little space of wall between a filing cabinet and the entrance into the central hub of the FBI building in Quantico, Virginia, and that's where I found myself tucked away. Hiding is a word I'll add for you, but if I was telling this story to anyone else, I would have kept that to myself.

I leaned against the wall, trying to act 'cool', as if I knew what that meant. One day, you will learn I truly don't know what that means, but for now, you only see what you want to see, and it's not that I'm probably the weirdest woman you will ever meet. You'll get there.

Not only was I hiding, but I was surveying. There were dozens of people in various stages of walking and running, around and through this room. It was full of desks in a handful of clusters, however, there was only one cluster I was focused on.

There were currently three members of this cluster, though I knew there were more. The youngest man with long, messy hair sat the farthest away from me (though you know, I shouldn't complain with the thick mane I have), which meant he was also facing me. He held himself tight, with his arms crossed nearly like armor. He listened hard with a crease in his brow, but often his face would hesitantly slip into a small smile, but then his mouth would move faster than I could even attempt to read. Despite the fact the cluster belonged to all of them, his desk was the center of focus.

A very sexy- okay, I shouldn't use language like that with you, but dang, it was true- dark-skinned man sat on the younger guy's desk. He was… well defined and had close-cropped black hair. The way his butt pressed against the desk- all right, now that's crossing a line. I'm going to talk about the other part of him I could see now: his back. His back was to me, but his shoulders were tight with muscles. Each time he shifted, whether by a laugh or just trying to reposition himself, caused a noticeable ripple across it.

The guy (because really, 'man' was a word a little too big to describe him) who sat in the chair, who the desk belonged to, clearly looked up to him. I don't say this just because he was, throughout my whole observation, literally looking up to him, but because of the way he kept stealing glances up to the older man (yeah, 'man' described this one perfectly), even when the was talking to the other women standing in their little group.

And this woman kept stealing even my eye. She was bright, and bold and, honestly, clearly weird. She may even give me a run for my money on being the weirdest woman alive. She was vocal and had a loud, but infectious, laugh. Even from my post against the wall, my eyes caught her bright green, chunky necklace, and her orange, pom earrings. Her blonde hair looked long, but it was pulled up into two high pigtails, framing her face like another accessory. Equally infectious as her laugh was her smile. It was a 'cheese' smile. Her eyes wide with expressed exaggeration, though contained within small, black glasses. However, despite the things she put on herself to make people look at her, it was her smile that was my favorite. I liked her already.

Interrupting my 'profiling'- I hadn't been using that term to describe the things I did at this point- of this group, another blonde, but younger women, came to me. Her hair was in a tight, low bun. Her eyes were a stormy blue, darker with the eyeliner framing them. Despite the way her hair was pulled back to look professional, she looked so young. Perhaps it was her small frame and big eyes, even with the makeup, that made her look so innocent.

"Dr. Charlotte Hart?" She asked with a smile, that I automatically returned. "I'm Jennifer Jareau. You can call me JJ. I'm the team's liaison. It's about this time I gather the team for a briefing. Hope that's an overnight bag," she nodded to the small duffel I had hanging from my shoulder, "because today we will be traveling."

Making eye contact while she spoke to me, I noticed a small crease in her forehead. Giving her my full attention now, as innocent as her eyes looked, they were lined with tiredness. Her smile had dimmed into a smaller, curt one, as she continued to speak.

"Charlie," I corrected first, trying to brighten my smile to bring hers back. I succeeded slightly as she nodded to the use of the nickname. "And yes, I thought I'd be dropping it off at my desk for a future date, but I'm definitely ready to get in the thick of things today."

"There's never a thin day with this job," she joked with a small laugh, though she looked like she wanted to sigh instead. I chuckled in response and she continued on, "Also, your assigned desk is to the right of the other doctor on our team, Spencer Reid," JJ added, pointing to the cluster I had already been watching. I had already figured which one would be my desk, however, I was just using my time to get to know them before they knew who I was. People are different when it's a stranger looking at them.

"Have you met the team yet?" JJ asked, following my gaze back over to the cluster. Why do I keep using the word cluster? I'm overusing it now, but when I first saw the way the desk _clustered_ together, it just came naturally. However, that's beside the point right now. Team's the term. Team… the thought of having a team excited my heart and wanted my anxiety to burst out of my brain at the very same time.

"No, I was just… observing," I answered, slowly, feeling like I had to be careful with what words I used.

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to get to know them on the flight, but that's Penelope Garcia and Derek Morgan," JJ replied, kindly, before finishing with, "I'm gonna gather them now. Conference room in five." She pointed in the direction of the room she spoke of, before walking towards 'the team'. Thankfully, my mind kept the word 'cluster' to itself.

Instead of joining them at the desks, I dashed towards the bathroom. I placed the duffel on the ground and, as a nervous tick, washed my hands. Before drying them, I used the water to brush my hair with my fingers. Each morning, about a half a bottle of anti-frizz gel goes into my thick, curly hair, but as well as the normal symptoms of nervousness like flushed cheeks or sweaty hands, my body also sends it to the top of my head and into my hair as the way of frizz.

I was in the bathroom no more than two minutes, but by the time I came out, the desks were empty. I dumped the bag on my new chair and went to go find the conference room.

The door was open, but I didn't enter right away. I leaned on the door frame, watching them again, I couldn't hear their voices before, but I could now, and they hadn't noticed me yet, so I just waited till they did.

But it was like he felt my gaze and Agent Hotchner met my eyes nearly immediately. I took a step in. He opened his mouth to introduce me, but another voice spoke first.

"Do they think they can just replace Elle like that?" Derek Morgan suddenly asked, looking at the empty seat next to him, not realizing I had entered the room yet, but then he noticed all the eyes pointedly go from him to me. Morgan was the last to look at me, with a guilty look on his face.

Hotchner raised his eyebrows, really as a physical representation of 'welp' and he began my introduction: "Team, this is Dr. Charlotte Hart. Within a year of her residency to be a psychiatrist, she realized she didn't want to use her psychology degree to be that and was recommended to look into the BAU program with the FBI. Now two years later, I approved of her request to transfer to our team," he spoke very matter of fact, but he paused before adding, "Doctor, this is agents Jason Gideon and Derek Morgan, Dr. Spencer Reid, and tech analyst Penelope Garcia."

There was a silence that felt way longer than it probably was that forced me to say, "Uh… y'all, please call me Charlie. My life has… my life's led me to this, to here, and I'm very excited to have finally made it."

It was then an echo of 'welcomes' finally filled the room and I relaxed a little bit, easing myself into the chair next to Morgan.

"Why didn't you want to be a psychiatrist?" Dr. Reid asked, genuinely curious. He asked it so simply, but it wasn't a simple answer.

"It wasn't… enough," I struggled to find the right words. "It wasn't enough, for me, to listen to them. It wasn't enough for me to put a diagnosis on and treat them. I knew there were so many that didn't come to me and I needed… to stop _them_, instead."

"Them?" Morgan prompted next to me and I looked down at my folded hands.

I took a breath and answered honestly, "The killers," I looked over at him and corrected myself, "The unsubs."

"I know you, don't I?" Gideon looked at me, his head tilted as he thought. "1994. Charlotte Hart, sophomore of Dinwiddie High School. Best friend to Tessa Holmes."

_Hart & Holmes_… we had joked about house designer line or decorating magazine.

"Gideon," Hotchner said quietly, a warning. For he knew what Gideon was talking about, because Jason Gideon did know me, and Aaron Hotchner knew me just as well.

"Th-that's irrelevant," I responded, swallowing hard.

"It is irrelevant to this case," Hotchner finished the discussion, firmly, before motioning to JJ to start. "And JJ, as much you want to take this case, we have to be invited by the local authorities. I'm sure this friend of your aunt is very concerned, but it just doesn't work that way."

"I've called the police chief, he faxed the official request for assistance," JJ responded quickly, handing over a folder in her hands to Hotchner.

JJ took a deep breath but stood tall. Her physical appearance didn't match her internal strength. She turned to the TV on the wall. "This is Brooke Chambers. Her father, Peter, a widower, left her home alone for the weekend…"

JJ clicked through pictures as she explained how she believed three friends have been missing for five days, though each of their parents got a voice mail explaining how they'd gone on a road trip.

But…

"Too perfect..." I muttered, thinking I could never leave a coherent thought like that on an answering machine. I felt Morgan shift next to me, contemplating the information we were receiving.

"Exactly the same," Reid nodded at me, and most of the team agreed, but Morgan did put in a different angle, what if they_ had_ just taken off for one last adventure before college? JJ spent his entire question shaking her head, response already on the tip of her tongue. I kept the emotion off my face, but I felt sad for her. She had connected to this case. It was now personal to her. Her own words, _she was them_.

It hadn't surprised me that Morgan was a wild child. His past life oozed out of him, but in the end, he got on board, with a passionate explanation from JJ.

The voice-mails made it clear that they only had till Friday, only a few days to find them. I wasn't used to this kind of deadline. I'd worked cases like this before, but not so early in it. It not only was still going on, it was just beginning.

"Wheels up in thirty minutes," Hotchner announced with a firm nod, before gathering the paperwork in front of him. Everything Hotchner did was firm, I noticed immediately. He did firm voices, firm nods, firm handshakes, firm faces…

As I was thinking this, the others were gathering themselves up to, so I stopped my musings then- oh, but don't worry, it wouldn't be the last time I wondered about him.

* * *

There wasn't much to discuss case wise, so JJ was right. I'd get to know them better on the flight.

At least, the original _cluster_ I was observing that morning, though minus Garcia. Not to my surprise, the older men gathered in the front of the plan in the two singular seats.

There was a table towards the back and that's where we sat. JJ had slid in first, and because I'd already had a conversation with her, I sat next to her, so Morgan and Reid took the seat across from us.

"So, Red, tell us about yourself," Morgan began the interrogation with a smile. _Red_ was very obviously a reference to my hair. I snorted at the nickname, because _how original_.

I shrugged with a smirk. "Hotchner summed it up pretty well."

"C'mon, tell us something about you that's not on your file," Morgan replied with a matching smirk. Daaang, he was fine but too fine. Ya know what I mean? Ya probably don't. He was just... too hot, and he knew it. I couldn't figure out if that made him any less hotter to me.

So, I wanted to sound cool in front of my new colleagues, but I just knew whatever that would come out of my mind would sound the complete opposite in Derek Morgan's eyes. "That's a loaded question," I finally responded, coyly.

"Just tell us some things you're into," JJ put in with a smile. It didn't quite reach her eyes, but at least she was trying. Her genuine worry for these girls could save their lives.

"Two truths and a lie. All of us," I suggested instead, "Remember, y'all are just meeting one new person. I'm meeting like six."

"What are we," laughed JJ, "in high school?"

"I never got asked this question in high school..." Reid said, clearly intrigued by compiling two of his most interesting experiences and then just completely making up a third one. My gaze lingered slightly too long on him, as his forehead creased in thought. It was endearing. A small smile formed across my face, as a weird, warm tingling spread through my stomach. I wrote it off as his reaction had made me happy.

"I'm in," Derek responded with a grin. I looked over to him, raising my eyebrow. His is going to be good.

"All right, you first, buddy." I straightened up, putting my 'listening ears' on.

"I…" He began, before pausing to think. Despite the silliness being displayed, I considered this as a precursor to what kind of relationship we'd have as a team. His brow furrowed as he thought and it didn't leave his face, even as he spoke, "I like pina Coladas. Getting caught in the rain. And especially, making love at midnight."

….. that's a Rupert Holmes song. I rolled my eyes.

"Lame, c'mon!" Reid laughed from beside him. His eyes searched Derek's face waiting for it to break. He did, laughing hard.

"I ain't telling y'all all my_ dirty_ little secrets," He replied with a smirk, and I believed him. His confidence and flirting were definitely a mask, but seriousness aside.

"You've never seem to care prior to this," Reid quipped back, glancing at me with a grin. "Every Monday morning, like clockwork-"

"Oh, but there's a lady present-"

"Are Garcia and I not ladies?" JJ put in, a hand on her chest in mock-indignant.

"No, you're not a lady… you're nothing but a sister!" Derek responded, with no hint of a smirk or a grin, just a genuine laugh.

"Did you just quote Aristocats, Derek? Oh my God, I might just fit right in here," I said with a wide smile, and I meant it. They were close-knit. They weren't just a team. They talked about life outside of work. They teased each other, they all were comfortable with each other. I'd stumbled across a family.

"But hey, you're from Dinwiddie, right. As in Dinwiddie, Virginia?"

My heart dropped with my smile. Yeah, this isn't a little 'get to know you' flirting. The playful mood dropped with my heart and my smile, sucked away by Morgan's question.

"I thought you wanted something not on her file," Reid said, with a slight edge to his voice.

"Yeah, kid, he ain't as smooth as he thinks he is," I said with a sigh, glancing at him, wondering where the edge came from.

"'Kid,'" Reid scoffed, "You're only two years older than me!"

"I take it you know my file then," I replied, quietly, ignoring his comment. Any other time, and all other times in the future, I would have teased him for taking offense to 'kid', but I was more focused on seemingly everyone already knowing _my_ deep dark secret.

"It was… it was just a question. I didn't think it was a _secret_-" Morgan tried to defend himself and I looked at his wide eyes, the way he held his hands up.

"No, no, it wasn't. 'Dinwiddie High School', 'Tessa Holmes' probably pricked a small memory in your brain. Not enough to fully remember, but enough to nag at you, and you were hoping to ask questions to ease the answer out of her or for it to click in you. I don't think you meant any ill-intent, but to Charlie, and understandably so, talking about her hometown is a very sensitive conversation," Reid cut in, before looking at me, "I haven't read 'your file', per-say, that doesn't matter to me, but I did research your case, long before you transferred to the BAU."

"In the future, if you want to know something about me, just ask," I sighed again, tiredly, before standing up. "Just straight up say,_ I think I remember you from somewhere, where? _And I'll always say, _oh, you probably know me because my best friend was murdered by a serial killer while I was in high school _because _it's always that_. Then the conversation awkwardly fizzles out and I walk away," I finished, hotly, and I was going to do just that. I huffed out, "I'm gonna get coffee."

When I arrived at the coffee bar at the back of the plane, I glanced back. JJ was looking at me with pity in her eyes. Morgan and Reid were fervently whispering to each there, and to my great humiliation, Gideon and Hotchner were also looking at me.

Great. Heat flushed my cheeks as I poured my coffee. I popped a lid on before returning to the table. I didn't sit down but stood in a way I was facing my superiors at the back of the plane too.

"Look, Charlie, I didn't mean anything by it. Reid was right, you just seemed familiar, and with my line of work, I should have entertained the possibility that maybe it was because of a previous case," Morgan apologized in a low voice, who I had already figured out hadn't meant it the way I originally took it.

"He's really not a jerk like that," Reid surprisingly put in as defense.

I smiled, bitterly. "I believe you. I believe you're a jerk, but not a jerk _like that_," I began, eliciting a chuckle from Morgan. I took a deep breath and continued, "So… just three truths about me, real quick. My best friend was murdered by a serial killer. It led me to be a psychiatrist to try to understand why, but being a psychiatrist isn't want I wanted to do. This is it. And finally, I'll take games from patients, or unsubs, but I won't take games from coworkers or friends," I paused, trying to gauge reactions. Hotchner's eyebrows were so furrowed they had become one, but there was a slight upturn to Gideon's lips. I didn't care about my peers right now. "I'm sorry for my reaction. That was unprofessional. I had just not wanted y'all to know that yet, because knowing that would change how you see me. I wanted to y'all to see me as who I am, not as what has happened to me."

With that, I placed my coffee back at my seat and slid back in. There was silence that caused Reid to squirm by fiddling with the end of his sleeve. I looked over at him. His eyes met mine for a second, before falling away. Happiness spread across my stomach again. Happiness from what? That he couldn't look me in the eye?

"Dang, Red, the only thing fiery about you ain't your hair," Morgan commented, and I turned my gaze to him and just smiled, sheepishly. "Them were some truths, too."

"You don't think any of them were a lie?" I asked, innocently.

"Not. One."

Flirting with him was tiring. He had to stop playing eventually, but I wondered if that would be when I stopped playing, and I definitely was going to. He had too much going on for me. I haven't even known him for over two hours and I'm exhausted.

So, I turned to Reid instead, going along with the happiness in my stomach. "Hey, kid," I said to get his attention, his face scrunched up, indignant, looking back up at me. His mouth opened in protest, but I spoke over him, "Your go."

He paused for a second, gathering his thoughts. "First, I hate being called 'kid', and especially, by a supposed peer," Morgan snickered from beside him, but I just grinned, not offended at all. "Second, I met Elon Musk at a SpaceX seminar. And third… one time, I got drunk and sang karaoke with Brandon Flowers at a bar in Las Vegas."

"Three, hands down. There ain't no way Spencer got drunk with the Brandon Flowers," Morgan said, looking at Reid like he was a complete different person than he was five seconds ago.

JJ hesitated, unsure. I had a feeling Dr. Spencer Reid can surprise you, and she knew it.

The silence was deafening, so I finally responded, "You haven't met Elon Musk… as cool as that would be, possibly even cooler in your mind than singing with Brandon Flowers."

"Charlie got it right," Reid smiled broadly, thoroughly enjoying the shocked look on Derek's face. "I didn't even know who he was at the time. Yeah, I'd heard of the Killers, but never actually heard any of their songs. Still haven't heard any of their songs. I wouldn't even have believed the event occurred if it wasn't for the video. I was able to confirm with a quick internet search that it was, indeed, him."

"Video? _Video_? Stop what you're doing right now and show it to me, Reid!" If Derek could have stood up, he would have jumped up in excitement, but he was trapped by the plane wall and table.

"I wasn't the one in possession of it. I… no longer converse with that person."

"C'mon, man, that would have been so cool..."

"Have you ever even seen him drunk, Derek?" JJ asked, genuinely curious, a smile in her eyes as well as on her lips.

Derek looked over at Reid, with nearly an evil grin. He was planning a night out with the kid, I was sure.

"That was the last time. It wasn't a particularly enjoyable experience. I don't plan on doing it again," Reid responded, eying Derek nervously.

I shook my head, chuckling. "You're probably the coolest person I've ever met, bud," I paused, wincing at calling Reid bud. It wasn't natural on my tongue… I didn't want him to be a bud. "Hey, if I can't call you kid, which you know, understandably so, what would you like me to call you?"

"Spencer would suffice… or Spence is another common nickname of mine. Well, I say common but only three people ever call me that," he answered, before wincing at his own omission.

"Nah, four people do, Spence," I replied with a smile.

"Team," Hotchner began from directly behind me, walking into my view. "Wheels down in fifteen. Let's move into the discussion of the case." Gideon came up next to him and then Hotchner… smiled? I know now that it was definitely a smile for Hotch, but I barely caught the upward twitch of his lips then. "And if you ever get back in contact with the owner of that video, please send it to me, Spencer."


End file.
